


Morning Madness

by Eurazba



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alyanette April, Cats, F/F, Identity Reveal, M/M, Nudity, Older Characters, Reveal Fic, So is Marinette, Swearing, There's a lot of swearing in this, adrien is a terrible liar, adrininovember, but like holy cow, everyone's older, i have a potty mouth, it's minor but I manage to have someone naked at least twice, its all in the kwamis, kwamis being little shits, like mid 20's, okay so I know it says swearing, sorry - Freeform, three shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 15:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12867855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eurazba/pseuds/Eurazba
Summary: Nino comes home early in the morning to find a mysterious kitten sleeping on his husband's back, Adrien denies it's existence.Alya swears her wife is hiding a stuffed red toy in random places around their apartment for her to find no matter how much Marinette insists that she isn't.Adrien suddenly finds not one, but two kwamis in his apartment.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally do one-shots (and this will actually eventually be a two-shot) but I wanted to write something for adrininovember and ended up writing this silly little fic. I realized in writing this that Adrien is just like my dad, except for the swearing and the panicking, that's me.
> 
> Tell me what you think!

Half past 3 in the morning, Nino found himself standing in front of his apartment door fumbling around with his cluster-fuck keys as quietly as he could in order to find the correct one. The silence of the building was deafening compared to the traffic of the streets and his keys sounded like a bulldozer in the silence. Finally, he found the right one and jammed the key inside the door and entered, tired and eager to curl up in bed with his husband.

A singular light was left on for him, barely illuminating the room, but giving enough light that Nino could guide his way around the messy area. He kicked off his shoes and haphazardly tossed his jacket on to one of the wall hooks covered in jackets. Turning off the light left for him and pulling out his phone to use the flashlight, he shuffled over to the bedroom. There, Nino saw Adrien, collapsed onto the bed and still dressed in his day clothes, even still wearing his shoes, Nino sighed, another long day. Their cat, Seraphina, was curled up on Adrien’s back, content with her position. Nino ran his hand over her back, waking her up with a little “prrt”, however when he guided his light over to her he saw something else.

There, wrapped up in Seraphina’s white and brown body was what looked to be a little, black kitten.

It barely moved as Nino shined his light over it, only twitching a closed eye, it was alive. Nino leaned down to get a closer look at the kitten. It was a tiny thing, no bigger than the palm of his hand Nino guessed, he reached a finger out to pet its little head, the kitten leaned into the touch.

Where did they come from? Nino thought, turning the light towards Seraphina’s face more, she squinted at the light and let out a quiet meow. Seraphina was known to bring things into the apartment, always managing to kill a small bird or drag a mouse she found from the next block over all the way back to their apartment. She was quite the little killer, but she never brought another cat, much less a kitten, back. Nino looked over to where Adrien’s face was pushed into his pillow, letting out quiet breaths, he wouldn’t put it past Adrien to randomly adopt a stray without consulting him first, that’s how they ended up with Seraphina in the first place. Yet it was odd how content she seemed, curled up with this little kitten, she didn’t get along well with other cats.

He set his phone on the side board with the light facing up to dimly illuminate the room before scooping up the kitten from Seraphina and holding it up to look over it. What he saw was rather disturbing, the kitten’s head was rather bulbous compared to the rest of its body, has it been crushed? Had the kitten been born like this? He wasn’t sure, but he worried if it would actually be able to survive. Based on its size he guessed it couldn’t be more than a week old, the kitten was a tiny thing, likely the runt of it litter. As if to defy him, the kitten yawned and opened its eyes, bright greens peered back at him and the kitten froze.

It was as if the kitten was startled at seeing him. Seraphina had gotten up and was pushed against his leg, eager to have the kitten back with her. Nino ignored her and looked over the kitten more, two strange whiskers came from its cheeks and a third came out of the top of its head, that didn’t seem right. The kitten continued staring at him, Nino sighed, it was too late in the night for him to ponder this little kitten, he could ask Adrien about it when he woke up. Hoping it had been fed, Nino walked over to the cat bed that Seraphina never used, said cat hot on his trail, and placed the kitten in it. Seraphina gave him a dirty look, hesitating before finally climbing into bed and curling around the kitten once again, the kitten relaxed and slowly closed it eyes.

Nino walked over to where Adrien still lay, completely undisturbed by the moment on his back. Nino pulled off Adrien’s shoes and tossed them to the side before pulling his feet up onto the bed, not bothering to take of Adrien’s clothes. As gently as he could, Nino pulled the blankets out from under Adrien and flopped them over him. Adrien sighed and curled into the blankets more without waking, he could sleep through the apocalypse if he really wanted to. Nino rolled his eyes, putting away his phone and getting himself ready for bed before pulling back the covers and curling up with Adrien for the night.

* * *

 

Nino awoke to an empty bed and Seraphina curled up on his face, nothing new, but he could do without the fur all over him. He pushed her off, the sudden sunlight making him squint, and ran a hand over his face. Slowly he sat up, rubbing his eyes before reaching for his glasses. Seraphina rubbed into his side signaling that she wanted him to pet her.

“Yeah, yeah, you only want my attention when Adrien isn’t around,” Nino said climbing out of bed and stretching. It was a quarter to noon, a good time to wake up, Adrien would be back from his morning shift for lunch soon. Nino freshened up in the bathroom before heading to the kitchen, Seraphina happily trailing behind him.

Something about that was bothering him in the back of his mind, he couldn’t quite recall what. He began pulling out ingredients, Seraphina watching him from one of the counter stools as he thought over what he was forgetting. Seraphina, she was following him around but there was supposed to be something else she had, did she bring another dead mouse inside? Stars he did not want to clean that up.

Nino almost dropped the pan he had when he remembered the kitten from last night. He shoved everything aside and looked over at Seraphina, she didn’t have the kitten with her. He rushed back to their room, the kitten wasn’t in the cat bed, it wasn’t on his and Adrien’s bed, it wasn’t anywhere in the room. He searched the rest of the apartment, the kitten was nowhere to be found. Nino turned accusatorily towards Seraphina who remained in the same place and lied down, not particularly interested in his searching game.

“Where did they go?” He asked her.

She twitched and ear and tilted her head at him.

“Where did the kitten go Seraphina, did you hide them?”

She meowed back at him, Nino sighed rubbing his hand over his face, the cat wouldn’t be of any help. He really didn’t know what to do, but Adrien would know hopefully, Nino went back to the kitchen to start the food to distract himself.

An hour passed before Adrien showed up, and Nino was just about done cooking.

“You know, cooking naked is dangerous, something hot could pop up and burn you,” Adrien said giving Nino a kiss on the cheek and hanging up his coat, Seraphina was right by his side.

“I’d wear an apron, but you’re the one who bought it,” Nino said in reference to the obnoxiously bright apron Adrien bought with an ugly graphic of a cat and the absolute worst pun printed on the front of it, Nino refused to wear it and Adrien always looked like a doofus when he wore it.

“Aww come on, that apron is the pinnacle of humor,” Adrien smiled, setting out silverware and sitting down at the table as Nino served them the food he made.

“I beg to differ, Marinette and Alya beg to differ, the world begs to differ,” Nino deadpanned, earning a laugh from Adrien.

“Every once in a while, I manage to get a laugh out of you with my humor,” Adrien said taking a bite, he praised Nino for the food.

“If by every once in a while you mean “twice in our entire time of knowing each other”, then yes.”

“So I take it you didn’t marry me for my humor,” Adrien joked.

“Stars above no! If I married you for your humor I wouldn’t have the social life I do now,” Nino laughed.

“Harsh Nino, are you saying my jokes drive people away?” Adrien asked.

“I’m saying that Alya and Marinette wouldn’t have dinner with us as frequently if I wasn’t there to stop you when you’re “on a roll” of jokes, and in turn stopping them from rolling their eyes out of their heads,” Nino responded with his own eye roll.

Adrien put his hand on his chest in mock hurt, but didn’t lose the smile on his face, “Then why did you marry me?”

“Oh a variety of reasons, you’re sweet, you’re a giant nerd,” Nino began, Adrien giving him a look with a smirk but eager to see what else he would say, “You’re caring, though, so caring that you decide to bring in stray cats without asking me first because you just can’t stand to send them to the shelter.”

“Oh come on! That was one time! And besides, Seraphina loves you, and I know you love her,” Adrien pointed his fork at Nino accusatorily, said Seraphina having rested on Adrien’s feet.

“And the kitten from last night?” Nino asked, curious as to why Adrien didn’t mention them.

“The what?”

“The kitten from last night,” Nino emphasized, “I came home last night and there was a kitten curled up with Seraphina on your back.”

The confused look on Adrien’s face let Nino know that he didn’t actually know what Nino was talking about.

“There was this little black kitten, it had this, this really big head, like uncomfortably large compared to its body, and these bright green eyes. And, it seemed like it was too small, too young, to have its eyes open,” Nino explained, watching as a slow realization crossed Adrien’s face and his eyes grow wider and wider, “And it had to whiskers on the side of its face and one weird one that seemed to come out of its head.”

Adrien stared at Nino with wide eyes and his mouth open, he knew what Nino was talking about, why was he so shocked by this.

“You’ve seen them?” Nino confirmed.

The speed at which Adrien wiped the shocked expression off his face and replaced it with a nervous smile could have given someone whiplash.

“What, what, no. I’ve never heard of something like that-I-I’ve never seen a cat like that. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Adrien began stuttering out, almost tripping over his words.

Nino frowned, Adrien was lying, that much was obvious, he had never been a good liar. What Nino couldn’t understand is _why_ Adrien would be lying about something like a cat.

“Are you sure you saw a cat last night? You get home pretty late you know, it could have been something else,” Adrien weakly suggested.

“Adrien,” Nino said, his husband straightening at the stiffness in his voice, “You don’t need to lie about this, it’s just a cat, I won’t be mad.”

“I’m n-I’m not _lying_ , Nino,” Adrien insisted.

Nino gave him the most perplexed look, he was really going to keep trying to play it off.

“Adrien, I know you, I know when you’re lying, you’re a horrendous liar,” Adrien gave him a look but Nino continued, “It’s a cat, why are you trying to hide it from me? My birthday isn’t for another six months if that what it is.”

“No, haha, it’s not that,” Adrien looked to the side, “It’s umm… uh…”

He hawed and hemmed trying to think of something, but didn’t manage to give any explanation.

“It’s nothing, really!” Adrien quickly said when he couldn’t think of anything.

Nino narrowed his eyes, it clearly wasn’t “nothing” if Adrien tried to deny it at first and couldn’t actually give him an explanation, but he decided to let it go for now. Adrien would come forward with the truth eventually, he wasn’t good with guilt either.

“If you insist,” Nino sighed.

The rest of lunch was spent in uncomfortable silence before Adrien left early for work.

Nino slumped in his chair, looking over at Seraphina, “What could he possibly be hiding? It’s just a cat, isn’t it?”

Seraphina meowed back at him.

* * *

 

The week had passed awkwardly, Adrien and Nino walking on eggshells whenever they conversed as each tried to avoid talking about the cat. Their monthly dinner with Alya and Marinette had been incredibly uncomfortable, both women having picked up on the unease between Nino and Adrien.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Alya asked, finally breaking the awkwardness between them, “Normally we can’t get you two to shut up, and you’ve barely said a word this whole night.”

“It’s stupid, really,” Adrien said.

“It really is,” Nino said, giving Adrien an accusatory glance, “So why don’t you just explain it to me.”

“I-I don’t really think this is the time,” Adrien hissed at Nino as Marinette and Alya shared a look.

Nino turned back to the table, he knew Adrien had a point, he rather didn’t want to explain that their little feud was due to a cat seen in the night.

“…Listen, we’ve had fights that seem stupid too,” Marinette said, trying to ease the tension between them.

“Like the stuffed toy you keep placing around our apartment to mock me?” Alya asked with a smirk.

“I’m not hiding a stuffed toy around the apartment, I’ve already told you,” Marinette exclaimed.

“Sure, sure it’s the ghost haunting our building that’s moving the toy around,” Alya rolled her eyes but still didn’t lose her smile.

“See, it could have been a ghost that you saw,” Adrien commented.

“Seraphina wouldn’t wrap herself around a ghost, she’s smarter than that,” Nino bounced back, he knew what he saw, and that didn’t explain why Adrien had to lie about it.

“This is the same cat that screamed at us for an hour when a stack of papers fell onto her food bowl and she couldn’t find it,” Adrien laughed, Nino let out a little chuckle with him, things were still tense between them but they wordlessly decided to push the issue to the side for the night.

The night continued on between the four of them like normal, but once Marinette and Alya left the awkwardness between Adrien and Nino returned. Though it was clouded by the three bottles of wine they all shared, the next morning-noon-whenever they woke up, was a harsh combination of a hangover and the week’s continual issues.

As if to mock them, the akuma that appeared at the end of the week while Nino was grocery shopping was cat themed. He stood at the window of the store, watching the fight pass by on the roof of the buildings across from him, Chat Noir and Ladybug moving in a blur of black and red.

Chat Noir was supposed to be a black cat with green eyes, Nino realized with a frown.

He swore when this cat thing did eventually come out it was going to be something completely asinine, Adrien having gotten himself nervous and worked up over nothing. Nino continued with his shopping.

* * *

 

Chat Noir was about ready to scream, of all things, of all the times, the stupid akuma this week just _had_ to be cat themed! He swore Papillon was mocking him.

When the blasted akuma had finally been purified Chat Noir did let out a scream.

“Are you okay?” Ladybug asked from beside him on the roof.

“Yeah, fine, fine, I just… Auugh,” Chat managed out, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

“Auugh?” Ladybug repeated back, knowing that he was more articulate than that.

“So you know the kwami thing I told you about a couple of day ago on patrol, with my husband seeing my kwami after I passed out when we were done with the midnight akuma?”

“Oh, yeah, has it gotten worse?”

“No, no, not really, things have just been really awkward between us,” Chat ran his hands over his face, looking over at Ladybug, “No, it just, my kwami looks like a cat, so my husband thinks I’m lying to him about a cat, and the stupid akuma just had to be a crazy cat lady just to rub it in my face.”

Ladybug laughed.

“That’s quite some bad luck with timing,” She chuckled, Chat Noir frowned at her, “Look, look I know this seems bad, but it’ll blow over, and you’ll be able to joke about it like me and my wife do.”

“Something about a ghost?” Chat asked, remembering when Ladybug told him a similar situation between her and her wife a few months ago.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure our building is haunted, so it’s easy to play it off as such,” Her earrings beeped, “Just, give it some time.”

“I’ll try,” Chat sighed, he needed a shower, “I’ll see you next week for patrols.”

“See ya,” She responded, both of them heading home.

* * *

 

Nino came home, his arms full of grocery’s and his head filled with thoughts of cats. The sound of the shower from the next room could be heard from where he stood at the front door, good, he needed a little more time alone to clear his head before he and Adrien go back to their mess. He closed the door, shoved his keys in his pocket, and looked up.

There, in the middle of the kitchen, was a cat.

… _The_ cat.

…The kitten.

It was flying.

It was _flying_!

Without thinking, Nino started screaming, dropping half of the grocery’s he had.

The cat, the kitten, it was in his apartment, it was _flying_ in his apartment! What the fuck!?

The kitten remained frozen, staring at him with wide eyes and unsure of what to do and still _flying in his star-forsaken kitchen_! Nino barely caught the sound of a loud thud coming from the bathroom over his screaming, Seraphina running from her place on the couch to the bedroom in a panic. A few seconds later, Adrien came running out, sopping wet and holding the metal bat they kept in case of intruders.

“WHAT, WHAT!? WHAT’S WRONG!?” Adrien yelled out swinging the bat over his head, Nino’s screaming had barely stopped.

Adrien’s eye went wide when they landed on the kitten.

“IT’S THE KITTEN! IT’S THE FUCKING KITTEN I SAW! ADRIEN WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING? WHY IS IT FLYING, WHAT THE FUCK!” Nino screamed, pointing wildly at the flying kitten.

Adrien stood frozen, the bat still posed above his head and eyes still wide as he looked from Nino to the flying kitten. The kitten started to move and on instinct Nino dropped the rest of grocery’s he had and quickly grabbed the flying kitten.

“What the fuck?” Nino yelled again, holding the thing in his hands, its green eyes wide and staring at him like he was a mad man, “Adrien, what the fuck, what-”

Adrien was suddenly right in front of him, shoving a wet hand over Nino’s mouth to silence him.

“S-shut the fuck up for a moment, stars above!” Adrien hissed out looking over to the wall where some of their neighbors were, they knew Alya and Marinette, their neighbors on one side, and Nino and Adrien knew that they were out on a date right now and wouldn’t hear them. However they barely knew their neighbors on their other side.

There was thumping from their neighbors, “What the fuck are you yelling about? Some people are trying to read here!”

“S-sorry, thought we saw a giant bug! F-false alarm!” Adrien yelled back at the neighbors. Nino glared at him.

“ _False alarm_!?” Nino hissed back at him, having pulled away from Adrien’s hand, “You call this _thing_ ,” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to call it a kitten anymore, “I’m holding in my hands a false alarm?!”

“I’d rather not be called a thing,” It said from Nino’s hands.

Had it not been for the neighbors, Nino would have started screaming again.

It _talked_ , it fucking _talked_!

“Adrien Agreste-Lahiffe I swear to the fucking stars above if you don’t tell me what the fuck this flying, talking cat-thing that I’m holding in my hands is, and how _you_ know what it is and why it was flying in the middle of our kitchen, I’m going to take that bat out of your hands and kill it,” Nino hissed trying to keep his voice down. He didn’t hear it say “no you’re not,” in response as he waited for Adrien’s explanation.

“W-well, uh… you-you see…” Adrien couldn’t look him in the eyes, instead electing to stare at the whatever still in Nino’s hands as he fumbled around for something to say.

“I think at this point its better telling him, than trying your poor excuse of avoiding the subject,” The thing spoke up again, speaking directly to Adrien.

“But she’s gonna kill me when she finds out he knows,” Adrien hissed back.

By how low Adrien’s voice was, Nino figured he wasn’t supposed to hear that, but his blood froze when he did.

“She _who_?” He whispered, his voice barely audible and dripping with venom.

“You don’t have to actually tell her that he knows,” The thing responded nonchalantly, Nino almost squeezed its head off.

Adrien looked in an utter panic at Nino’s reaction, his eyes desperately searching everywhere for some kind of an answer.

“ _Adrien_ ,” Nino growled.

Adrien looked down at the bat still in his hands, squeezing it hard. He let out the shakiest breath Nino had ever seen from him.

“Ladybug?” He offered in the tiniest voice, the word had been uttered in a tone several octaves above Adrien’s normal speaking voice.

Nino nearly did a double take. Of all the answers that was _not_ the one he was expecting.

“Wha-”

“Fuck, look, this is going to sound really stupid, fucking, this _is_ really stupid, but just, hear me out, okay?” Adrien said, the words pouring out him faster than he could actually get them out. Again he looked to the sides, anywhere but at Nino, and took a deep breath, “I’m… I’m Chat Noir.”

Nino almost didn’t catch what he said, the words were so quiet, but he did, and he couldn’t wrap his mind around what they meant.

“What!?” He squeaked out.

“I’m, Chat Noir, and, that’s Plagg,” Adrien pointed to the thing in Nino’s hands, it acknowledged the name with a little “hey” before phasing through Nino’s hands and floating up beside Adrien. Nino stumbled back, almost tripping over the groceries on the ground behind him, “He’s my kwami, and how I get my powers to be Chat Noir. Well him and my miraculous, or are you considered the miraculous too?”

Adrien turned to the kwami as he rambled and held up his hand to show off the ring on his hand. The same ring he insisted for years was a family heirloom but Nino for the life of him could never fucking understand why he wore it everywhere he went, particularly in the shower, wouldn’t it tarnish? But if was some kind of magical item that gave powers to be, be _Chat Noir_?!?! He didn’t understand.

“Adrien, wait-what?” Nino breathed out, barely able to speak as his mind went a million miles an hour.

“Listen I know this is a lot to take in, but, I mean, you obviously weren’t supposed to find out, and fuck, this is such a mess, and I just, I didn’t want you to be angry at me, and I didn’t want to lie to you about all of this, but you-you have to understand that that I can’t tell anyone about this,” Adrien said, the words flying out of his mouth without pause, “You know, this whole being a super hero, being Chat Noir, it, it has all these dangers associated with it and I can’t just let you know about this big huge secret, you’re not supposed to know, no one’s supposed to know, Ladybug doesn’t even know, and fuck, Plagg she’s going to kill me when she finds out he knows, I know you said she doesn’t have to but I just know she’s going to find a way to figure it out and I-”

“Shut up!” The Plagg yelled out.

Adrien and Nino stopped and looked up at him.

“Stars above you two are a complete mess, shut up, sit down , and take a moment to _breath_ before you begin talking about this,” The Plagg looked between them as he talked, Nino still wasn’t used to a very human voice coming for this very animal looking… creature, what did Adrien call it again?

“You’re right Plagg,” Adrien said, his voice still high, “You’re very much right, correct, right, right you are.”

“Adrien,” The Plagg creature said, rolling his eyes.

“Towel,” Nino blurted out, now acutely aware that Adrien was still mostly wet and that his hair was still covered with suds, “You need a towel.”

Adrien slumped and nodded in agreement, “And an ice pack likely, I slipped in the shower when you started screaming and I think I pulled something.”

“Right, right,” Nino responded, not quite grasping the whole of his words as he went to the bathroom to grab some towels for Adrien, following the puddles of water Adrien left on the ground.

He grabbed a couple of towels and found Adrien standing awkwardly in their living room, not wanting to get the couch wet, the bat he was holding, now leaning against the counter. Nino handed one towel to Adrien, who quickly wrapped it around his shoulders with a shiver, and set the other on the couch for him to sit. Nino filled a plastic bag with ice in the kitchen and handed it Adrien, who put it on his hip, before he sat down next to him. The Plagg creature zipped over to the fridge and came back to settle on their dining table and watch them with a small piece of camembert in its… paws.

“Okay, okay, let’s… start from the beginning,” Nino said, Adrien nodded, “You’re Chat Noir.”

“Yes.”

“ _You’re_ Chat Noir.”

Adrien laughed lightly, “As hard as it is to believe, yes, I am.”

“I just, sorry this is a lot to suddenly take in,” Nino shook his head, running his fingers through his hair.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I kinda just, dumped a whole bunch of information on you like that, I was nervous,” Adrien gave a weak smile.

“I just, you’re Chat Noir, you’ve always been Chat Noir,” Nino repeated, still disbelieving despite the… odd, evidence given to him.

“I have, ever since… well ever since we met,” Adrien said thinking on the memory, “I got the Miraculous the day we met.”

Nino let out a shaky laugh, “Your Miraculous, that silly ring you wear _everywhere_ , even in the shower, and insisted was a family heirloom.”

“Yeah that one,” Adrien said, running his hand over the ring on his finger, “You know, akuma can attack at any time, gotta be ready for anything, and keep it on me at all times in case someone tries to steal it.”

Nino let out another small chuckle, shaking his head, “And that thing-”

“Not a thing,” The Plagg creature said as Nino pointed to him.

“Plagg,” Nino corrected, “What did you call him?”

“A kwami,” Adrien supplied.

“Right, right, that …kwami, this Plagg, he’s like… like your familiar right?”

“Something like that. When I ask-”

“Demand,” Plagg interjected.

“-him to transform me he gets sucked into the ring and I become Chat Noir, my powers come from him mostly,” Adrien explained.

“Hmm, that’s right, I deserve more credit for what I do, or at least more cheese,” Plagg said eating the cheese he had in one frightening bite.

“He’s kind of a shitty familiar,” Adrien whispered.

Nino laughed at that while Plagg glared at them from where he sat.

“I just, this is so wild, so many things make sense now,” Nino exclaimed, “You running off every time an akuma appears, coming home late at random time. Stars above, the reason you purr! I’ve been trying to figure that one out for years! And you know, it’s a hard thing to ask someone!”

“You could hear that?” Adrien asked with an embarrassed blush.

“Of course I could, when you’re pressed against me it’s kinda hard not hear it and feel it vibrating against my back,” Nino confirmed, “And just, so many things make sense, like, he’s the reason you always smelled like camembert, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Adrien responded with a wrinkle of his nose.

“Hey, Camembert isn’t that bad of a smell,” Nino said, Adrien looking at him like he was crazy.

“I’ll eat to that!” Plagg agreed, another piece of cheese having mysteriously appeared in his grasp before inhaling it.

“Hey, don’t eat all our cheese now!” Adrien chastised him, Plagg simply shrugged in response.

“This is so wild,” Nino repeated, Adrien smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m married to Chat Noir, this ridiculous, I’m _married_ to Chat Noir.”

“Don’t go announcing that to anyone now,” Adrien chuckled but gave Nino a serious look.

“Oh, yeah, totally, no, no one’s going to know. No one will know, my lips are sealed,” Nino said, waving his hands as he spoke.

Adrien pulled him into a hug, the smell of shampoo still in his damp hair filling Nino’s nose.

“Listen, I’m so sorry for lying to you about this. I never wanted to lie, it’s just, you know. It’s dangerous for people to know,” Adrien sighed.

“I understand Adrien,” Nino said, wrapping him arms around him, “I swear, I’ll never let anyone else know about this.”

Adrien simply hugged him harder.

They pulled away and Nino shook his head again, “I’m sorry, I just, I married Chat Noir.”

“You know that Chat Noir, I heard he married that famous DJ Nino Lahiffe-Agreste, he’s the real cat’s meow,” Adrien said, acting like a fan who just read the information off a tabloid.

Nino burst out laughing, he certainly wouldn't say “famous” when relating to himself.

“See, I do get you to laugh with my humor!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally was going to wait until Alyanette April to write and post this chapter, but I ended up joining an Alyanette chat on Discord and I was inspired to finish this chapter for Femslash February.

It was early, too early for Marinette to be up, but she had work. She lay still curled up in bed, listening to the sound of Alya in the shower, and wishing it wasn’t so damn cold. It had been 30 minutes since Alya got in the shower, which meant she would be done soon and Marinette needed to get out of bed lest she want to face the “games” her wife would play to get her up and out of bed. She got up, hissing against the cold and stretching until it all her bones had taken their turn to crack and pop.

Alya, bless her heart, was kind enough to make her coffee before jumping in the shower, Marinette followed the scent as it filled the kitchen and spilled over into the living room and their bedroom. She had poured herself a cup and put in a teaspoon of sugar when she heard the shower shut off. The creamer was in her hand when her wife suddenly screamed, it dropped to the floor and spread creamer wildly across the kitchen floor.

Marinette ran to the bathroom, almost slamming to the ground when she slipped on the spilt creamer. She tried to open the bathroom door, but it was locked, a habit Alya was never able to let go despite not living with her sisters for almost 6 years now.

“Alya, honey? Are you okay?!” Marinette called through the door. 

She heard a quiet cursing on the other side, her name mentioned, when the door was suddenly wrenched open. The warm humid air that brushed past Marinette’s face and oozed out of the room would have felt amazing were it not for her very pissed wife still soaking wet and shivering against the towel haphazardly wrapped around her shoulders. The worst part wasn’t that though, it was the little red kwami in her hand, remaining still and smiling brightly despite the undoubtedly aggressive squeezing she was being subject to in Alya’s killer grip. Marinette swore she could see a devilish gleam in Tikki’s eyes as she was being shaken around.

“Stars above Marinette! It’s one thing to hide this stupid little toy around the apartment for me to find in your little game, but putting it on the towel rack while I’m in the shower?! You nearly gave me a heart attack! How did you even sneak it in here?” Alya shoved the kwami into her hands.

Marinette glanced down at Tikki in her hands, barely relaxing at the fact that her wife was in fact not in any danger, but also reeling that she and Alya had to have  _the_ conversation this early in the morning. She clenched her fist around Tikki to silently show that she was pissed at the kwami.

“Alya we’ve been over this,” Marinette began, trying to keep herself calm, “I’m not hiding this toy around the apartment for you to find.”

“Then who is?” Alya threw her hands up, they had bickered over this too many times before, Marinette stuck with the same terrible lie she had when this first came up.

“I don’t know! Maybe a ghost from the apartment, who gets their kicks from hiding things for people to find?” Marinette said, squeezing Tikki harder.

“You really expect me to believe that?” Alya said, but visibly relaxing now that “toy” was out of her hands, she sighed, “Listen, listen, just, keep it out of the shower, don’t try and scare me like that.”

“Alya,” She sighed, shaking her head but forming a plan in her head, “Listen, it’s not me doing it, and I’ll prove it.”

Alya looked at her skeptically but followed as Marinette made her way through the living room and to the balcony. Marinette opened the doors of the balcony, letting more cold air into the apartment.

“Marinette what are you doing?” Alya asked wrapping the towel tighter around her and shivering.

“Come here,” Marinette beckoned her closer to the balcony, Alya looked at her like she was crazy, she sighed in exasperation, “Just come here.”

Alya took a couple steps forward.

“Listen, I’m going to throw this toy out of the apartment and onto the street, where it will get swept away by the traffic below, or wherever, there’s no way of me knowing where it will end up,” Alya narrowed her eyebrows at Marinette, not convinced by her plan, “There’s no way of me getting it back, so if the toy ends up back in the apartment, then you’ll know it wasn’t me, but something else, like a ghost or whatever.”

“…You’ll just go and buy a second toy at a shop,” Alya deadpanned.

“I-oooh,” Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose, this was the dumbest lie she had made up, “Where have you even seen this toy before?! It’s not even in stores!”

Alya simply pursed her lips in a way that said, “I just have.”

“You can be the one to throw it, if you don’t trust me,” Marinette offered.

“No, no,” Alya waved her hand dismissively, though she gave Marinette all of her attention, “Throw it.”

She said it like a dare and Marinette felt fire flow through her blood at the challenge. She got into position, right arm back, left leg forward, and body leaning back. She threw Tikki out the window with all her might, her body bending around and her right leg flying up as she did so.

Alya went running forward to the edge of her balcony to watch Tikki fly through the air, a red streak flying through the grey morning. Marinette got up and stood beside her watching with curiosity to see where Tikki would fly to and “land” herself. She almost hit a tree and Marinette felt a brief twinge of guilt before remembering that this whole thing was her fault for purposefully hiding with the intent of being found. Tikki ended up landing in a potted plant on a balcony across the street, a floor level below their own, they could barely see her red head from across the street as she remained still for the show.

Marinette turned to Alya with satisfaction, “There, I won’t be able to get it if it’s at someone else’s apartment.”

“Fine, fine,” Alya mumbled, wandering back inside, too cold to argue with it.

Marinette ran a hand over her face, she would need to give Tikki a good talking to while they were out today.

* * *

 

Sometimes Alya was surprised by how far Marinette would go to prove something true or false, admittedly Alya would do the same thing, it was a good quality to have when you constantly had to fact check your information. Watching her wife chuck the toy she had been taunting Alya with was both startling and amusing. But, true to her “promise” Alya didn’t find the toy anywhere in the apartment for the past week.

And boy did she look for it.

Checking in cupboards more frequently than usual, glancing at shelves across the room, shuffling through the pockets of their jackets hooked on the door when she would first enter the apartment, looking in places she hadn’t ever thought of looking before. Everywhere she looked was met with satisfyingly empty spot.

Well not entirely satisfying, Alya did admit she found it a bit fun to find the toy placed in all sorts of odd nooks and crannies, wondering how Marinette managed to hide it some places. What was odd about their … “game” so to say, was the fact that Marinette continuously claimed that she wasn’t the one hiding the toy. At first, Alya believed her, guessing that it might have been Nino or Adrien climbing over their balconies and sneaking into their apartment for their little game. But there had been several occasions in which she had found the toy, placed it out in the open, and then found it hidden again within the hour. Too quickly for Adrien or Nino to have done, and Alya didn’t leave the apartment, she would have heard the balcony doors open, so it must have been Marinette.

She entered their apartment silently, Marinette wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room, but she was home as the balcony doors were open. The day was considerably warmer than it had been at the beginning of the week, and she found that Seraphina, Adrien and Nino’s cat, had wandered into their apartment as she would do from time to time. Alya smiled as she took off her jacket and wandered over to the cat. She wasn’t leisurely lying in the sun, like she normally would when she came over, no, instead something on their bookshelf had captured her attention. She was stretched, with her front paws on a low shelf as she sniffed the air above her. Alya squatted down to give the cat a pat that was ignored before getting up and looking over the bookshelf to see what she was so interested in.

There, on the top self, was the toy.

Though it looked different than it did whenever she would typically find it, the blank smile on its face was replaced by one of panic, and instead of sitting, it stood on its little legs and pressed its back to the books behind it while looking down at Seraphina. Alya glanced down at the cat below, who licked her chops in anticipation, before looking back at the toy. It seemed to realize that it was being watched, because it looked up at Alya and froze, staring at her.

It moved.

The… toy, it moved.

It… it was alive!

Before she could shout, say anything, do anything, Seraphina leapt up. Alya jerked back and the cat went flying between her and the book shelf, almost reaching the top, where the toy-thing, where the  _thing_ was. In response the thing flew up and shot itself across the room, landing on the top of the couch and still watching only Seraphina as she turned and got ready to pounce again.

Instinct took over Alya though, and in that moment she was faster than the cat. She launched herself across the living room and grabbed the thing before Seraphina could get to it. She squeezed it in her hand before scrambling up and turning to the balcony, chucking the thing across the street as she took a step forward. She didn’t look to see where it landed, instead electing to slam the balcony doors closed as fast as she could, she caught sight of the potted plant on the neighbor’s balcony just as they shut.

The red spot was still there.

She locked the doors quickly, her hands shaking over the doorknobs.

It moved, it fucking moved, it was alive! How? How?

Suddenly Marinette’s idea of ghosts wasn’t so far-fetched. As if on que, she heard the toilet flush, and the sink run.

Seraphina meowed, pawing at the door. She wanted out, what a crazy cat.

“Sorry kitty, can’t let you out on account of-” She paused, if it was a ghost, a mere pair of doors wouldn’t keep it out of their apartment, but it made Alya feel safe, “On account of that bullshit.”

“Alya?” Marinette came out of the bathroom then, “Why did you close the balcony doors? It’s nice out.”

Alya simply smiled as she turned around, Marinette glanced down at Seraphina and silently asked why she was being locked in their apartment.

“You were right Marinette,” Alya said a bit manically as she took a step to her wife, Marinette in turn, took a small step back.

“What? What, Alya are you okay?”

Alya approached and almost collapsed into her arms, her legs turning to jelly.

“There really are ghosts in the building,” Alya mumbled out, “We have to move.”

She said this very suddenly and without any real thought, but the implication of her words weighed heavy on the two of them. Marinette and Alya hadn’t been at this apartment for long, it was on the corner of their building, and larger than Adrien and Nino’s. They had lived in this building longer than Marinette and Alya and had helped talk with the building manager to reduce the price so they could afford the bigger space. The apartment had an extra room, they had been talking about adopting a child, for longer than they had been dealing with the red thing that wasn’t actually a toy. Marinette and Alya were stable, had been for some time now, moving wasn’t ideal.

Marinette immediately went to reassuring Alya that they were okay, that they didn’t need to move, and asking what had happened. Alya almost couldn’t think, but the way Seraphina’s brushed against her legs brought everything back together.

“The toy,” she began, Marinette visibly grimaced, “I saw it again today, but it  _moved_ this time.”

“What?”

“It moved!” Alya said wildly, standing up straighter on her own, “Seraphina, had chased it up the bookshelf or something, and it was looking down at her at worry, and suddenly she jumped up for it and it  _flew_ across the room and onto the couch, all on its own!”

Marinette’s mouth gaped slightly, “And…”

“Well, it’s gone now,” Alya answered.

“Where did it go?”

“I…” Alya felt childish for telling her this, “I threw it out of the balcony and onto the street.”

“Why-”

“It was moving! Flying! Changing its facial expressions, it was alive! …Or dead, a ghost!” Alya cried out defensively, “I panicked!”

“Okay, okay, calm down Alya, if that’s what you did, then that’s what you did. It’s gone for now,” She looked down an Alya in worry, “Let’s just sit down for a moment, I’ll make you lunch, and we can talk about this.”

They did, and Marinette tried her best to reassure Alya that they didn’t need to leave their apartment if it was haunted, the ghosts hadn’t proved to be dangerous, but the way she said it, it felt like she was laughing at Alya. Maybe she wasn’t, and Alya was just took shaken up from what she had just seen. She tried to focus on Seraphina purring on her lap, they had silently agreed not to talk about the possibility of moving again.

* * *

 

Alya had trouble as she held the cat in her arms, she didn’t want to be held, but Alya wanted to make sure that she actually got back home. Alya was unwilling to open the balcony doors back up, so she took to returning Seraphina back personally after her lunch, knowing that at the very least Nino would be home right now. Marinette had already left back for work.

When he finally opened the doors and Seraphina scrambled out her arms, dropping to the ground unceremoniously and running past Nino’s legs into the apartment. Nino looked down at her curiously before looking back up to Alya.

“Brought back your cat,” She said.

“I, uhh… I see that,” He replied, still confused by the action, “Why? She can make it back to the apartment on her own.”

“She was in my apartment and I didn’t want to open the balcony doors back up,” She stated, not really wanting to explain her silly reason as to  _why_ .

Nino turned back to his own balcony doors, they were wide open and letting in a warm breeze, “Why?” He eyed her suspiciously.

“…” She sighed, leaning against the doorframe, “Do you… think this place is haunted?”

Nino gave her a perplexed look and was about to ask her what she meant when Adrien arrived.

“Okay hun, I’m heading off-Oh hey Alya,” He greeted, having just noticed her, “What are you doing here.”

Adrien might have been a better to ask anyways.

“Hey Adrien, I just came to return your cat, but I have a question for the both of you,” Alya replied, Adrien tilted his head, “Do you think this building is haunted?”

Nino didn’t change his perplexed look, but Adrien suddenly became very uncomfortable.

“I mean probably,” He sounded like he was trying to brush it off, “Why do you ask?”

It was Alya’s turn to be uncomfortable, “No reason, just… remember a month ago when you were arguing and mentioned that Nino might have seen a ghost? And then mysteriously made up,” She mumbled the second part, it wasn’t her business, but their sudden turnaround was cause for curiosity, “Do you think it was actually a ghost you saw?”

Both Nino and Adrien looked uncomfortable at this, and shared a look with each other that only increased Alya’s worry.

“Yeah, it was,” Nino said, though his eyes disagreed, “It was a ghost, though they’re not dangerous if that what you’re worried about.”

She shook her head, “What did it look like?”

“Like a cat,” Nino answered, this much she could tell was the truth.

Adrien glanced down at his watch, his eyes bugging out, “Sorry, I’ve got to run. See you,” Adrien gave his husband a kiss on the cheek before running off to work.

“Listen, I don’t think you should really worry about the ghosts in this building if you do run into them,” Nino shrugged, “Just give them a bit of cheese and they’ll probably leave you alone.”

Alya was not expecting that answer, she stood, completely stupefied by it.

“See you later Alya,” Nino said, awkwardly closing the door.

“Wait, wait!” The door closed, leaving Alya in the dark of the building’s hallway and wondering what the hell Nino meant by his cheese comment.

* * *

 

Alya stood at her apartment door, nervous to enter. She and Marinette had both been caught up in busy projects last night, unable to have dinner together and both arriving home late. It wouldn’t have been too bad, but Alya wanted to talk more with her wife about the possible-ghost and about her weird conversation with Nino and Adrien. She had to run out that morning to drop off the article she had forgotten about delivering yesterday, Marinette hadn’t woken up by the time she left. 

Now, however, Marinette would be awake, and they had the whole day to talk. Alya was nervous, she felt like she had been losing her mind over this thing.

She finally unlocked the door and entered, without a sound. There was no dancing around the topic, but she would prolong it as much as she could. From their bed room, she heard quiet voices, Marinette’s, and a high pitched one Alya felt she had recognized. She tiptoed over to their bedroom, listening, the voice didn’t sound like it was over a phone, they sounded like they were in the room with Marinette.

“It wasn’t my fault this time Marinette!” The other said with exasperation, “Seraphina, that cat I swear, she was going to eat me! I had to get out of the way!”

“You could have just phased trough the wall! Leave the room or whatever, just not be seen,” Marinette responded. 

Alya found herself frozen in her place,  _phase through the wall?_ Was she talking to the ghost?!

“I panicked, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, but it won’t happen again Marinette” The other pleaded.

“I just,” Marinette sighed, “Its fine, its fine. It just, I feel like Alya’s having trouble trusting me with all of this.”

Alya tensed at the mention of her name and found it in her to move forward.

“I know, I’ve seen it before with many past relationships, it’s always hard to talk about-“ Alya peeked around the corner and saw Marinette sitting on their bed, but ignored her when she saw the ghost-thing. It was talking! Talking to Marinette! Marinette was in cahoots with the Ghost!

Without thinking she shot out from behind the door and dived across the bed, startling both Marinette and the ghost, but still managing to actually catch the thing. She rolled over the bed with the ghost in her hands, springing up with a wild laugh and landing on her feet as she looked at Marinette with accusation.

“What are you doing talking to the ghost?!” She shrieked, shaking around the ghost in her hands, it had a surprising amount of solidity for a ghost but she didn’t know what else to call it, “More so! Why didn’t you tell me about this?! What is going on? Why are you talking to this ghost?! Why did you- Why did you…”

She stopped and looked down from the worried look Marinette was giving her to the nervous one the ghost was giving her, thinking about the months that Marinette went claiming to not know what this thing was or where it came from. An overwhelming sadness clung to her chest at the thought.

“Why did you lie to me?” She asked, looking back up at Marinette.

The guilt in Marinette’s face made Alya’s heart sink even further, however it was replaced by a burning anger when Marinette didn’t answer her.

“Marinette,” She repeated, harder this time, “Why did you lie to me?”

“I-I… I didn’t want-” Marinette immediately began spluttering, “I’m-I wasn’t supposed to, I wasn’t a-allowed to… please understand… I-I it wasn’t my f-fault.”

Alya didn’t understand, how could Marinette lie to her? And about a ghost of all things? She looked back down at her hands to see that it wasn’t there anymore, but a few feet away near Marinette this time, having passed through her hands like they were nothing. Alya redirected some of her anger to the ghost.

“You! Ghost-thing!” She barked at it, and it effectively stopped moving away and looked back up at her in worry, “What the hell have you been doing to my wife?”

“Now Alya, I know you’re angry,” The ghost addressed her personally and Alya began to rethink her approaching it directly, this could be dangerous, “And admittedly this little game went on a little longer than it should have, which was rather irresponsible of me,” It mumbled the second part, but Alya heard it and felt her anger spark.

“What are you doing with me and my-” 

“Stop! Stop, stop, stop!” Marinette broke in, waving her hands as she moved between Alya and the ghost and effectively cut off Alya, “Alya, I  _have_ been lying to you. I’ve been lying to you since the day we met.”

Hearing the words come from her wife felt like a punch to the gut, she barely caught the panicked look the ghost gave Marinette, shaking its head while she gave it a little nod back.

“Please understand Alya, I never wanted to lie to you, to anyone, for so long. But you knowing, anyone knowing, puts us at risk,” Marinette tried to explain, but her statements were vague and gave Alya more questions than answers, “You especially, since you’re my wife.”

“What are you talking about?” Alya asked, if she was given the option, Marinette would ramble and stall for the rest of the day.

“Listen, Alya, I’m going to tell you a secret, my secret, my biggest secret that I’ve had for years and years and have never told anyone, but you have to promise, have to  _swear_ that you will never tell a soul about this. If you tell anyone, if this gets out, we’re both put in danger,” Marinette said, looking more and more nervous with each word she said, “Do you promise?”

Alya gave her the most perplexed look, wondering what Marinette could possibly be talking about, and waiting for her explanation.

“Alya,” Marinette repeated, harder, “Do you promise?”

“Yes! Yes, fine! I promise, I promised not to tell anyone about this big secret of yours. I promise!”

Marinette let out a small sigh and her shoulders relaxed.

“I…” She looked like she was going to choke, “I’m Ladybug.”

There was a long pause between the two of them as Alya took in the meaning of her words.

“...WHAT?!” She shouted back.

This day just kept getting more confusing.

“You’re-You’re Ladybug?! What does that- How does that-” Alya stopped herself from uttering nonsense words as she felt her world falling down a staircase of revelations, “Wait, wait, wait. How does that explain the ghost?”

Marinette stepped to the side to reveal the little red – with black spots like a Ladybug, Alya realized – thing hiding behind her. It froze, caught in the spotlight of Alya’s critical gaze.

“She isn’t a ghost,” Marinette began explaining, lifting the not-ghost up toward Alya in her cupped hands, “Her name is Tikki, and she’s a kwami, she’s how I get my powers to become Ladybug.”

“Uh…” Alya looked at the creature, it didn’t look like anything that could give someone superpowers. Alya glanced at Marinette’s ears, seeing the black studs she  _always_ wore with her, so much so that she got her ears pierced a second time so that she could actually wear other earrings.

“Listen, I know this is hard to believe,” Marinette sighed, lowering her hands and seeing Alya’s doubt, “But it’s the truth. I never wanted to lie to you, but I can’t go telling anyone that I’m Ladybug, that information could get out to Papillon, and that’s a huge risk for you and I!”

“…I uh, it’s a hard thing to believe, Marinette,” Alya explained, “Holding up a- what did you call it, a kwami? Holding up this thing and insisting that you’re Ladybug isn’t really proof, at the very least it’s a very poor excuse.”

“You want me to prove it?” Marinette asked, like it was a challenge.

“I  _need_ you to prove it.”

“Alright then,” Marinette replied, rolling her shoulders and taking a step back, Alya felt cautious by her diction, “…Tikki, transformer moi!”

A bright light flew over Marinette and around the room, almost knocking over Alya as she watched her wife go through a series of acrobatics and a costume change in wonder.

When the light was gone, Ladybug, the real and authentic Ladybug, stood before Alya.

She almost screamed.

Marinette- _Ladybug_ ran forward to catch her when she suddenly felt her legs give out.

_Ladybug!_ Marinette was Ladybug! She had been this whole time. Alya’s mind was swirling with all of the coincidences that suddenly made sense, the same haircuts, her constant lateness, the akuma attack the happened on the same day as their wedding and caused her to be late! It suddenly all made sense!

“Oh, my stars my wife is Ladybug,” Was all she managed to get out. Ladybug- _her wife_ –gave her a little smile before sitting her down on their bed, “Oh my stars! Everything makes sense now!”

“It does, does it?” Ladybug asked.

“It does! The earrings you never take off! The timing of your haircuts you always attributed to be ‘a big fan of Ladybug’! Oh-ha ha,” Alya shook her head remembering something silly from a few years ago, “Remember that time- ha oh my stars this all makes sense now –remember that time Ladybug saved me from that one akuma that got too close-”

“Which akuma? That’s almost all of them with you,” Ladybug gave her a smirk, and Alya felt a giddiness flow through her and seeing her wife, Ladybug, like this. Alya gave her a pinch none the less.

“-And you were holding me in your arms,” Alya continued, “And you leaned over and tried to  _kiss_ me…”

Ladybug looked embarrassed, remembering that day.

“And I jerked back yelling “I have a girlfriend!” AND THEN when I went to tell you, Marinette, about it, you remember what you said,” Ladybug covered her face nodding, she did remember it, but she wasn’t going to repeat it now, “You said “If there’s any person in the word that you have full permission to kiss, it’s Ladybug.””

“I’m never going to live that down now am I?” Ladybug mumbled, not taking her hand from her eyes, a smile playing on her lips.

“Well you know what?” Alya said, peeling Ladybug’s hand from her face, “I’m finally going to take you up on that offer.”

She pulled Ladybug up and connected their lips.

I was just like kissing Marinette, and Alya felt like if she had actually kissed Ladybug before now she might have figured it out, but it felt stronger, younger, more like the first time they kissed.

They pulled away and Alya felt a laugh bubbled up in her throat.

“Stars, this is so wild, you Ladybug. I mean  _you’re_ Ladybug,” Alya repeated, “You, Marinette, my wife and the love of my life, are  _Ladybug_ . Oh my stars, you were practically right under my nose this entire time!”

“More like under your cli-”

“Oh my stars I’ve slept with Ladybug,” Alya snorted out in realization.

“I mean, technically I wasn’t in costume at the time so…” Ladybug mumbled, very much in costume now, but Alya barely heard her.

“Oh! Oh-do you remember-” Alya laughed thinking over the memory, “Do you remember when I had an interview with you and Chat Noir, and I asked if you were in a relationship, and you said you were “married to the law”?”

Ladybug laughed in response, “That one felt ironic considering how many times you’ve broken the law.”

Alya gasped in mock hurt, “Well lucky I had wife who knew an obscure amount of information about the law despite not actually being a lawyer,” Alya countered, she stopped when she remembered something else from that interview, “Wait, wait, Chat said, he said that he was also “married to the law” but his law was, and I quote, “tall, dark, and handsome”, was that an actual reference to someone in his life?”

“Correct,” She nodded in confirmation, “It was a reference to his husband.”

“So you know who Chat Noir is?” Alya furthered.

“Incorrect,” Ladybug adjusted their positions on the bed and looked Alya straight in the eyes, giving the room an air of seriousness to it, “I don’t know who Chat noir is, and he doesn’t know who I am, you’re the first person I’ve ever told about this.”

“You’re not supposed to tell anyone,” Alya repeated back her words from earlier, hiding the feeling of specialness that of all people, Marinette-Ladybug trusted her enough to actually tell her.

Ladybug then immediately reeled back, throwing her hand over her yes, “Fuck, Chat’s going to be so pissed that I told you.”

“He is?”

“Yes! I’m the one that enforced the “don’t tell anyone” rule and now I’ve gone and broke it!” She exclaimed.

“But surely he’ll understand if it’s your wife,” Alya tried to reason.

“Yeah, maybe if I wasn’t the one who told him that he couldn’t tell his husband,” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Marinette, listen, calm down it’s not that bad,” Alya tried to reassure her, it was odd seeing Ladybug like this.

“I just won’t tell him that I told you then,” She mumbled off in her own little world.

“Marinette!” Alya gave her a small shake the snapped her fingers in front of Ladybug’s face, she let her yes focus on the fingers and become aware of her surroundings once again, “Calm down Marinette. How about you, you take off your costume and I can make you breakfast and we can get all our ducks in a row?”

“…Your right,” She mumbled, and bright light falling over her without warning, momentarily blinding Alya, “You know, I should be the one telling you this, to calm down and everything, I just told you that I’m Ladybug.”

“And I am still freaking out internally, which is why I suggested that we eat,” Alya responded pulling Marinette up to her feet, food was always a good way to calm down.

“Would a kiss make it better at all?” Marinette cautiously suggested.

“A kiss always makes it better,” Alya smiled pulling her wife into a kiss.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaay, this chapter was a bit harder to wrap up than the previous one was. Okay! One more chapter after this, and it hopefully won’t be as long as these two were, but I have no idea when I’ll actually write/post it. I almost changed the Cats name in this chapter whoops lol.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I wanted to finally finish this so I could go and post my other Coco fic, I hope its to everyone’s liking!

For the most part, Adrien only had to shave every few days to stay fresh and look clean cut, but every morning that he had to shave he would heavily consider just letting his hair grow out into a long beard. Sure Nino might complain and Alya and Marinette might make fun of him for it, but he wouldn’t have to deal with that awful itchy sensation on his face every couple of days.

Usually what would make him shave was Plagg agreeing with him and saying he should grow out his hair. Adrien would always shave it then just to spite him, and a quiet paranoia deep in the back of his head worried that he would somehow look more like Plagg if he were to be covered in fur, even if he was still pretty blond. However, Plagg wasn’t there at the moment to convince him to shave out of spite. Adrien stood alone staring at his reflection in the mirror and holding the can of shaving cream in his hands. The faint sound of Nino’s snoring from their bedroom finally brought him out of his trance, he put down the shaving cream. Maybe he’d skip it this time, just to see how Nino and everyone else would react.

Adrien continued through his morning routine getting ready for work, this time skipping the shave and feeling oddly… grisly despite having washed his face. He had just finished applying his deodorant and shoved his shirt back down when he heard a screech from the living room immediately followed by Plagg yelling.

“Seraphina! No! Stop that!”

Startled, Adrien dropped the bar of deodorant on the bathroom floor with a dramatic and loud clang before he scrambled out into the living room.

“What?! What?! What’s going on?!” Adrien cried out.

He looked around the room, everything was clean, left in its place, not what he was expecting. Normally there’d be at least a stack of books knocked over by Seraphina if she was causing a problem. And when he looked, there was Seraphina, crouched in the middle of the floor with Plagg floating over her head and trying to pull at her collar, which was odd in itself. Seraphina adored Plagg, 90% of the reason she was always stuck to Adrien’s side was because Plagg was with him, and in return, Plagg would… Tolerate her. He didn’t really hate her, but it was obvious that he wasn’t all too thrilled with the attention. Heck it was the fact that Seraphina curled up to sleep with Plagg that Nino even discovered his secret identity.

But… There was something else, something else in her grasp. It was small red, and looked just like Plagg, just… if he was a Ladybug.

It was a kwami, undeniably a kwami.

And not just any kwami, it was _Ladybug’s_ kwami.

What were they doing here? Here, right here in his apartment. Adrien couldn’t move as he stared in amazement at the situation before him. This was so wild, why where there two kwamis in his apartment? Was something wrong? Was Ladybug in danger?

“Well, don’t just stand there, help us!” Plagg said, gesturing towards Ladybug’s kwami still very much stuck under Seraphina’s paws despite their struggling.

“Oh, right, right, right,” He jumped over and scooped up Seraphina in his arms.

Ladybug’s kwami was quick to act, wide blue eyes stared at him in shock before she went shooting off out the open balcony door. Seraphina struggled in his arms and he dropped her to the floor to go running after the little red kwami.

“Wait! Wait!” He said as he went after it.

Why was Ladybug’s kwami here? Ladybug, was she nearby? He followed it out onto his balcony and was barely able to follow it as it zipped into- …into Marinette and Alya’s apartment.

Was… was Ladybug, his neighbor?

“Tikki? Tikki? I have breakfast ready!” He heard Marinette’s voice from across the way, as if answering his question.

She wandered out on to her balcony so Adrien could see her, hair pushed back in a head band, a dusty apron wrapped around her waist, and a spatula in hand. Adrien’s head was swimming.

“W-who are you asking for?” He managed to strangle out.

Marinette jumped from where she stood and whipped around to look at him.

“O-oh, Adrien! G-good morning I didn’t see you there,” She greeted nervously.

“Who were you asking for?” He repeated.

“M-me? I- haha -I wasn’t looking for anyone,” She stuttered, her head breaking out into a sweat.

“T-Tikki, you said “Tikki”, who…” He slowed as she gave him the most horrified look, it must have been her, he had found her. …She was going to kick his ass, “Is…is that-”

She stared at him with wide, panicked eyes as he was about to say it.

“T-That’s my cat!” She blurted out.

“…What?”

“Yup, yup, my-our cat. Emma liked Seraphina so much we decided to get our own cat! H-her name is Tikki!” Marinette explained, but she was far too panicked for it to be the truth, “She always manages to sneak out, you know how it is!”

“…Your cat,” He dead panned staring at her, but she desperately avoided looking him in the eyes.

“Yup!”

“…And how long ago was this?” He asked, not being able to risk poking at least a little fun at her, this was Ladybug, it had to be, “You never mentioned getting a cat at our last dinner.”

She stiffened more, their monthly dinner was two weeks ago. Adrien and Nino knew for a fact that Alya and Marinette were not ones to do something on the fly, and even if they had been planning or discussing it, their daughter Emma would most certainly know about it and have announced it at the dinner in excitement.

“O-oh, it was… I-it was…”

She hawed and hemmed for a bit before Adrien decided that he had, had his fun.

“Are you sure it’s not your… Kwami?”

She froze, staring off the balcony and into the street below before turning to him with a look pure shock on her face. He said nothing as she looked his straight in the eyes, trying to figure out who he was. To help, he quickly ruffled up his hair with one hand and offered a lopsided grin all too like the ones he would use as Chat Noir. Recognition crossed her face as her eyes got even wider.

“A pleasure to formall-”

“You stupid cat!”

He barely bent down for a bow before she smacked him with her spatula.

“Ow!” He jerked up and backwards, holding his arm tenderly, “What was that for?”

“I cannot believe you! You go and throw out our secrets like that?!” She yelled.

“It’s not my fault!” He insisted, “Your kwami was just _there_ in my apartment and I was worried that something happened and then they flew into your apartment and I-”

“That doesn’t mean follow her! If there was a real problem Tikki, or even your kwami would have said something, oh my stars Adrien! And you just go and blurt it out to me the moment you figure it out?!” Adrien slightly shrunk into himself, but this was kind of what he was expecting so he just watched as she got it all out, unable to deny that his friend and neighbor standing right before his was also his partner in heroics, “After _ten years_ of keeping this a secret you go and just-”

“Maman?” Marinette was quickly cut off by the sound of her daughter’s voice, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing sweetie!” She quickly turned into the house, wiping her anger away in a flash, Marinette may not have been able to lie very well when she was caught, but she had proved to be very good at controlling herself around her 5 year old daughter, “You’re uncle Adrien and I were just talking, a bit passionately.”

She gave a side glare to Adrien as the little girl in question popped out onto the balcony, still clad in flower patterned pajamas and trying to rub the sleep out her eyes, she peered up at Adrien.

“Morning uncle Adrien,” She greeted.

“Morning Emma,” He greeted with a grin, still holding his arm.

She squinted at his as if trying to find some sort of change, he realized his hair was still messy.

“Your face is fuzzy,” She said matter-of-factly in reference to his unshaved face.

He laughed, “Yes it is, you like it?”

She looked at his hard debating it in her head, he half saw Marinette doing the same thing.

“No,” They both said at the same time, Adrien deflated.

“Breakfast is on the table ready for you sweetie, I’ll join you in a moment I just need to finish talking with Adrien,” She said beckoning her daughter back into the apartment.

“Ok!” Emma chirped, leaving them alone on the balconies.

The moment Emma was out of view Marinette turned back to Adrien with a glare. She pointed at his with her spatula and he jerked back again, a bit worried about her wrath.

“I am still unfathomably angry at you Chat,” She hissed quietly, but Adrien couldn’t help but find it funny how she called him “Chat”, “And I swear if this gets out to _anyone_ I am going to slaughter you in your sleep and there is nothing that Nino will be able to do about it.”

“Oh, c’mon Marinette, I know a thing or two about keeping a secret. I’ve this secret for 10 years also,” He kept his voice low as he tried to defend himself, blatantly ignoring the fact that he managed to blow that entire secret to his husband just 8 months ago, but she certainly didn’t need to know that, “I mean it could be worse, it could have been Alya that figured it out.”

The briefest, _briefest_ , moment of panic crossed her face that made Adrien suspicious before she quickly turned to a slightly different kind of anger.

“Are you insinuating something about my wife?” She asked, and Adrien realized that he said the wrong thing.

“N-no, it just that-”

“Just that _what_?” Her voice was dangerous and even though Adrien wasn’t technically wrong he also didn’t want to feel the spatula again.

“Well…” He began, trying to think of the most technical and factually correct route for him to take and not get hit too hard, “Think about it, Alya is a journalist, and more importantly one that had been trying to figure out our identities from the very beginning-now I _know_ she hasn’t done that for a few years but she less likely to hide mine or your identity for her “duty to inform the people” and whatnot.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Marinette asked, like she knew otherwise.

That combined with the lack of being snapped at again made him just the slightest bit suspicious.

“Yes, I am,” He returned, standing up a little straighter ad challenging her, “But I guess we’ll never know that, will we?”

“Nope,” Marinette managed to say confidently crossing her arms over he chest, but in her eyes, something, _something_ said otherwise.

She left to join her daughter for breakfast when she had determined the conversation was done. But for Adrien, it was _far_ from over.

* * *

 

Adrien stood in front of the hooked mirror covered in jackets in their kitchen by the front doorway, lifting his now bearded chin and trying to fix his stupid bowtie while talking with Plagg alone. It had been a week since having figured out and exposed his and Marinette’s identities, and Marinette hadn’t budged on her sentiment about Alya despite Adrien having the slightest of suspicions. But tonight was one of their double dinner nights, one without Emma even, so Adrien was going to poke a bit of fun and see what he could find out.

“So like, do you and Tikki just come over to each of our places all the time to hang out?” He asked.

“Yes, she’s much more interesting company than the rest of you,” Plagg answered casually.

Adrien rolled his eyes, “And does Seraphina try to attack you every time?”

“Eh, usually we’re smarter about avoiding her, and she managed to sneak up on us that time,” Plagg shrugged, “She likes me but for some reason seems to think that Tikki is a play thing.”

Adrien shook his head at Seraphina, who was sitting next to them contentedly, he huffed at his bowtie when there was a knock at the door.

“Should be unlocked!” Adrien called, out, expecting Nino to be back with his dry cleaning.

Plagg remained where he was, not bothering to hide from view, since Nino had learned about Adrien’s identity, Plagg had been more relaxed about being around him. They were both still cautious about each other, but Adrien had actually managed to catch them chatting every once in a while. The door creaked open quietly.

“Hey Nino,” He greeted, not looking up, “Good timing, I need you help me with my bowt-”

He heard the sound to something hitting the floor and looked up to not see his husband standing in the doorway, but Alya, all dressed up for the night and having just dropped her purse.

She was staring right at Plagg.

“K…k…” She was trying to say something, and she slowly raised her hand to point at Plagg.

“A-Alya!” Adrien shrieked, turning to face her as Plagg quickly zipped behind him, he clasped his hands together to hide their shaking. He caught Marinette behind her, ­ _oh-no_ , “Marinette! Y-your early! You weren’t supposed to show up for another 10 minutes!”

Adrien was vibrating, Marinette was going to kill him, he had already gone and mucked it up. This was not ideal, this was not ideal.

“K..K-kwami,” Alya uttered.

Adrien stopped for a whole different reason. Kwami, she knew that Plagg was a kwami. He looked at Marinette behind her and saw the angry look she had been giving turn to a panicked one. Marinette shoved Alya forward and closed the door behind her as Adrien felt an excited trill go through him, he was right!

“AH-HA! I was right!” He yelled pointing right at them, “You told Alya! She knows what a kwami is, so you told Alya!”

Marinette froze at being caught while Alya looked animatedly between them before it quickly turned back to anger.

“A-And you told Nino!” She shouted back, taking a few steps forward to face him as he leaned away from her. How did she know?! “You were just standing there waiting for him to walk in and your kwami didn’t even bother to hide! You told Nino!”

“A-a… You telling Alya is worse than me telling Nino!” Adrien weakly defended.

“WHAT?!” Marinette snapped, smacking his arm with her purse.

“Ow!”

“W-Wait! Was that the cat you two were bickering about eight months ago?!” Alya asked, having ignored his comment about her.

“ _Eight months_!” Marinette screeched, hitting him again. Adrien flinched back but remembered something.

“A-And your kwami must have been the ghost that you were asking about seven months ago!” He said, realizing that Marinette was just as bad as him. Wait, maybe worse, didn’t she mention the ghost before that?

Both kwamis zipped out and tried to calm the yelling.

“Hey, hey! It’s no-one fault!” Tikki said, raising her paws in surrender.

A click was heard behind Marinette and Alya. They all turned to see Nino, his hair slicked back and holding his dry cleaning and glancing between all of them in shock before looking up at the kwamis floating in the middle of the room. His eyes locked on Tikki.

“I-I Uh- Heard yelling-” Nino said before he was interrupted.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Marinette screeched, hiding her hands behind her back.

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Adrien said, pinching her arm.

She jumped back and yelled before going to him again, he was ready for it this time and blocked, going in for another jab. However they both had 10 years of experience fighting, and even thought they weren’t in costume they were just as skilled, dodging and striking in a mess of hands.

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY HEY!” Tikki and Plagg yelled, sneaking in to pull them both apart.

They were surprisingly strong enough to pull them apart, and hold them back from each other.

“You told Nino! And then you just went and told me the moment you found out, and you told Nino again just now without even trying to hide it!” Marinette yelled, “W-what, you’re just going to go and tell the whole world?!”

“Obviously not!” Adrien quickly retorted, “And besides you told Alya! You can’t be mad at me for doing the same thing you did! And even if you did try to hide it, it wasn’t going to work! You’re a terrible liar!”

“Oh you’re one to talk Adrien, you an even worse liar!” Marinette shot back.

“Are you kidding me? You’re way worse!” Adrien said, looking at the others to back him up.

“You’re both pretty awful liars,” Everyone else said, breaking up the fight and shifting the room into a tense silence right after.

“Well this is bad,” Plagg unhelpfully said, almost increasing the tension in the room.

“Y-yes, this may not be ideal,” Tikki said, “But, if we all just sit down and talk about it-”

“Ugh! Lets skip the long, drawn out conversation,” Plagg rolled his eyes, “Adrien is Chat Noir, Marinette is Ladybug. Adrien told Nino about it eight months ago after he caught me, and Marinette told Alya about it a month later when she caught Tikki. Then Adrien found out about Marinette last week when he caught Tikki and I, and told Marinette.”

“And it’s no one’s fault,” Tikki repeated.

“…Sounds a lot like it’s your faults,” Nino muttered, Plagg turned to glare at him.

“Yeah,” Alya muttered in agreement.

“It’s _no one’s_ fault,” Tikki repeated, giving a hard look to both Nino and Alya, “Now, you two have so far proved yourselves good at keeping the secret for the past 8-7 months, and we trust you with this knowledge.”

“You are to say nothing about this to anyone outside of the four of you, understood?” Plagg asked, directing the question to all four of them.

Everyone agreed and barely relaxed. Quiet and unsure what to do next.

“Sh… Should I still get dressed?” Nino asked, holding up his dry cleaning.

“…Yes, yes, go get dressed. We’re still going out, we paid too much for those tickets to suddenly not go,” Alya said, relieving a lot of the tension as she got out of his way.

Adrien nodded, “We can talk about this another time when we’re alone.”

Nino and the others nodded in agreement, as he walked over to his bed room, but not before turning to Adrien.

“Also I thought I told you to shave off the beard before we went out tonight,” He said.

“But I like it,” Adrien said softly.

“No,” Marinette and Alya were shaking their heads, eyeballing his beard, “You need to shave it, it looks bad.”

Adrien sighed and walked over to the bathroom, it could be worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, I feel like I made Adrien more observant than he actually in in canon, hmmm…. Also the yelling and fighting wasn’t originally supposed to happen, this chapter was just supposed to be Mari and Adri talking on the balcony and Nino and Alya never finding out, but it was too fun.   
> I’ve never written something this short and I wasn’t certain what the best way to end it was, I hope this was a least somewhat satisfactory.  
> Anyways, thank you all for reading this fic and I hope you all enjoyed it!


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